The Press., 1887-06-02
(For The Press.) NATHAN HALE'S BOYHOOD AND EARLY LOVE.

|
 LOVE.
 I Coventry, 17e5.
 Tonight the Hale latch-string is out .
 the string much pulled by the Hales of
 Coventry, Kent and Gloucester shire-so,
 very like the harmless spirit of an old
 English manor honse, I glide noiseIessly
 thro' the hall and take i'm the scene of a
 little family group. The neat primness of
 the oblong apartment is not without it's
 air of cheer, yet everything shows that ann
 bition and work-a-day toll is suspended, ,and
 the household manners and the general
 put-away look of things all have an ortho-
 dox keeping. Even the ancestral clock
 that is too tall for the shelf, stands upon
 the floor and solemnly tick -tacks, ,--Sat- ur- day-night This, with soft, tasseled Washington hat and 8 primitive pair of
 tongs make up the trio of wall flowers. Upon the cherry fall leaf table at the east end of the room stands crackle-ware
 pitcher of milk and a platter of corn-meal macaroons that Mistress Elizabeth Hale, who is disappearing through the portiere
 of homespun broadcloth, has neglected to
 remove. The maltese cat tiptoes across
 the rugless oaken floor, and three hardy, } red-cheeked mirth- loving boys of the pe-
 riod do not dare to pick her up; for here
 sits batter familias, .autocratic in rufhes, ) knee brooches and buckles-not exactly ) because the lads are filled with unwhole- } some fear in their parents presence, but } they are aware of his keen susceptibility to sound, especially upon Saturday even- , ings, so he rather sternly commands the three lads who are respectively straight
 laced upon as many chancel chairs, to take up reading suited to the solemn time, ad- dlng Children, you may not under stand now how kind, how far-seeing your 7 father is in trying to train your tastes &C., cording to the puritan customs of your an. cestry, but let me add that If either of you
 while am reading, dare to take down the } forbidden morris board, you may well feal that shall sustain my reputation of ar over-strict disciplinarian, and never again indulge yon in the gameI diversions like that might lead to evil, and must restrain your playful impulses" ..-. .....
 Right here should have reached with in the cupboard door and tipped over tho ink had not general air of feminine : starchy niceness prevailed and over-avec : me; besides charitable impulse made mt excuse this ancient piety. He desired tC s plant the principles of their predecessors t He did not have the light of our latter gen r eration. What would he have thought O - bicycles, base ball hines, toboggans, races
 plays, sluggers, and such things, tha r amuse the fallen boy of ST? . t Pretty soon, however, my fiendish de t sire came near being gratifed-for the olC p ped to the floor, his grasp upon the can
 dle's socket relaxed, and the oblique posi- > tion of the tallow dip let down the drip d pings upon the slippers of his patriarcha e nibs. -...
 } Twas then the handsome stripling, tn l. adventurous lad, Nathan, in spite of doc s trines aud his paternal ancestors desire t . turn him out a theologian-though not in t tending to rebel against authority-jus j. marshalled the ttl2 men" into position d and he with his brothers lost not & mo
 ment's time in finishing the game-whil n Morpheus performed the dual work c D weighting parental eyelids and holding l. the light
 It might be regretted that the boyhoo, E. of Connectiout's illustrious hero was no ,t what it might have been, yet he certainl, a made the most of home vantage grounds in sunny meadow and inland lake-th # crystal lake with the pretty Indian appel latien-Wangumbaug. These were dia ,' mond fields, gymnasiums and pleasaunc
 wales to him. Here he grew tall, graceful E and 1.-the of limb. He was an unerrinj 2 marksman, and afterwards while at colleg ; was not without his sporting record. An, what healthy boy ever lived in any az . who was so dull and benighted as not t = . have sufficient calisthenic exercise for hi f amusement and physical development = What octogenarian lives who does not tel ,t his grandson about the good times b S used to have at leap-frog and village greei 't games-sans belt or sash or tennis racke there was no dearth of another sor
 of racket. So, after the fashion of rurs :. sporting with oar and rod and gun, tn, Y comeliest and most ptomising of all tn 1s scions of Dea. Richard Hale's family de n veloped from rather feeble infancy into s hardy, bqoyant-spirited, manly boy; tho . pushed intellectually by ambitious friends The absorbed the eontentR of his textbook | wine, without bankruptcy of brain oF tissue n At the early age of 43 his Grandmothe , Strong, large hrained, broad minded wo 7, n man, wiih ideas reaching out beyond th d pale of the weeks mending-appre0ia his fine abilities-his thirst for knowledg ], and his aptneSs for llnstration-make
 him apply his infoFmatiGnI and in an.
 controversy Nathan's views were alway called for, and his judgement weighed al 4 matters and aueatloDs of might or minute f ness; and thro' the gRanaMotheF'R inAu l. ence the fathers original purpose was turn e el ed, and the youth In his 18th year pre-
 sented himself-a well taught boy-fo , ! admission to the halls of Yale, from whicl oa instit4tion, three years later, he 9raduate' 4 with the highest Aafbfs of his class, ana :" soon began bis first eneagemant at teach d ing in East Haddam, Conn. and tRugh ' both in the English and classic language highly intelligent elderly lady write
 that he was faithful and successful, an'
 everybody loved him, he was so inteligen
 and kind, and, she adds with emphasis
 ''ao hqndso1pR. One of his every da. 2 axioms was that not 2 moments tim o should be lost, and, as illustrative of hi
 perseverance and ingenuity, he fashioned r. during school vacation bit of artistic q ts handiwork-a large and beautifully oarveC 2 2 powder-horn, which was lately in the pos . session of Wm. Roderick Lawrence O
 Hartford Upon everything he construct < ed he labored with the same peculiar con . eentrativseaness, and not only the old ladie. appreciated his fine qualities, but natural
 ly enough the young ladies did and il # pleasantly he used often to say that ht D could do anything but spin, as he laughed \ with the girls over the spinning wheel a l. Coventry. Of course this shining light o s revolutionary days, with his elegant com